Why Martinborough, New Zealand, Should Be Your Next Wine Destination

Erin Florio, a “homesick Kiwi”, explains why everyone should be sipping their way through Martinborough in an article for Condé Nast Traveler. She remembers family trips to the South Wairarapa District in the lower North Island that always included stops in the colonial farm town of Martinborough. Back then, she writes, she was completely bored. When she went back this fall, she found quite a different scene – “like a secret rosé-soaked block party, with vintners for neighbors who served up grilled lamb and local Kapiti brie as finger food.”

“Unlike Marlborough, known for its big-batch, screw-capped sauvignon blancs developed to global success back in the ’80s, these vineyards 85 miles to the east managed to stay largely under the radar until the late ’90s,” she writes. Today there are about 50 vineyards – “largely small-scale, family-­owned, and non-industrialized.” Martinborough is built for vineyard-hopping, since pretty much all of the wineries are located on streets that run off the main square, she writes.

For those who “want to understand why those partial to the grape are high on this place” she recommends starting “at Schubert Wines, right off the town square, whose 2008 pinot noir Block B won the Inter­national Trophy at the 2010 De­canter World Wine Awards.”

Florio recommends heading to the landmark Martinborough Vineyard afterwards, followed by lunch at Poppies Martinborough, a trip to Te Kairanga Wines and Ata Rangi, “one of the original wineries.”

When the vineyards close around 5 p.m. “everyone heads into town for one final glass at the Martinborough Hotel.”

New Zealand’s most famous fashion export, the Duchess of Cambridge’s go-to designer Emilia Wickstead tells The Telegraph how this “relaxed and beautiful part of the world” evokes happy childhood memories.
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